Dr. Sanford Kuvin, infectious disease expert, dies

The Sanford Kuvin Center for the Study of Infectious and Tropical Diseases is the world’s leading research center in the world for malaria and other infectious diseases.

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
Dr. Sanford Kuvin (photo credit: Courtesy)
Dr. Sanford Kuvin
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Dr. Sanford Kuvin, a physician and leading researcher of infectious and tropical diseases, died in Florida on Saturday.
Kuvin lived both in Jerusalem and in the US with his wife, Gabrielle, to whom he was married for 55 years. They had spent several months each year in the capital since 1971.
He founded and acted as the chairman of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Sanford F. Kuvin Center for the Study of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, the world’s leading research center for malaria and other infectious diseases. In 2012, the center was designated by the Health Ministry as the country’s national laboratory for leishmaniasis, a debilitating skin disease spread by sandflies.
He was former vice chairman of the US National Foundation for Infectious and Tropical Diseases, former clinical associate professor at the University of Miami’s School of Medicine, board member at the University of Miami’s Department of Public Health, and former clinical associate at the US National Institutes of Health.
Kuvin graduated from University of Pennsylvania, Cambridge University and the London School of Tropical Medicine. He was the first to demonstrate the use of indirect fluorescent antibody tests for malaria at the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Kuvin was on the advisory board of the Americans for a Sound HIV/AIDS Policy in Washington and an outspoken advocate for the protection of healthcare workers and patients with blood-borne diseases.
He was also a member of the national board of the American Friends of the Hebrew University, and a recipient of the Torch of Learning Award and an honorary doctorate from the university.
He is survived by his wife, children Jeanette, Michele, Lisa and Jeffrey, and grandchildren.
He is to be buried in Jerusalem.